Most adults have some degree of gum disease. In an advanced form, the ailment accounts for about three quarters of lost teeth. Unhealthy gums can also lead to other health problems including serious infections.
Disease of the gums can be avoided by removal of plaque, especially from under the gum line. Brushing, alone, is not sufficient because it does not clean under the gum line between teeth. Consumer organizations have tested the available plaque removing products, including the high tech powered brushes. They report that the most important aspect of proper dental hygiene is flossing.
Proper flossing by hand, however, is an arduous and loathsome regimen. It requires dexterity and some degree of skill to properly manipulate the floss to clean all the interdental surfaces down to the attached gingiva. Dexterous people find flossing tedious and it is exceedingly difficult for the nondexterous. Consequently, an estimated 90 percent of adults have some degree of the disease in spite of efforts by their dentists to teach them how to floss.
An automated dental cleaner is, therefore, needed to reduce the amount of tedious work, perseverance, and dexterity required for proper flossing and brushing. After building and testing a variety of powered models, it was found that a practical flosser must have the following features:
(1) Means for moving a floss span between teeth with lateral strokes in order to work the floss through the tight gap or interdental contact point where adjacent teeth come in contact.
(2) Means for moving the span in both lateral and vertical directions, after passing through the tight gap, to remove plaque from interdental surfaces.
(3) Means for protecting the teeth and gums from being hammered by moving parts that reciprocate the floss span.
(4) Means for continuous replacement of the floss span.
(5) Means for preventing abrupt impact of floss against gingival tissue.
Although several powered flossers have been patented, none are able to adequately perform the functions described above. The present invention has the advantage of having the complete combination of above-mentioned features. In addition, in one preferred embodiment, the present invention includes a novel powered brush so both flossing and brushing are achieved at the same time.